Adibe Emenyonu
12 January 2009
Benin — Chairman of the Edo State Local Government Election Appeal Tribunal, Justice Roland Amaize, said yesterday that numerous approaches were made to members of the tribunal which he headed to pervert the course of justice during the sitting of the Local Government Appeal Tribunal in Benin last year.
Justice Amaize stated this at a thanksgiving service held at the New Covenant Church, Benin, adding, "Before we deliver our judgment, there were a lot of approaches to us. I am not going to mention names. Too numerous but we decided that we will look at each case according to the facts and the law."
Amaize stated further: "Like Rev. Omobude has just said, if you deliver a judgment that favours a person, he will say a Daniel has come to judgment. But if the case is in his disfavour, he will say oh! The judge has taken bribe."
"For me, I have to say in this forum because there is no other forum better than this one because I am standing on the Alter of God. And I am here with members of the church that I attend, principal members of my family are here, my friends are here and my colleagues are here. I make bold to say that I did not take anything from anybody."
According to him, "It is not in my nature by the grace of God, I am a man with some measures of pride for those of you who know me. I have pride in me and that pride will not allow me to do things that are mean because if you are a bribe taker, that means you are mean and you will never command respect among people even among your immediate family."
Justice Amaize who said he had forgiven those who falsely accused him of what he did not do said that he had had cause to turn back a number of people who came to his house to offer him bribe, saying "I did not do what they are accusing me of and I will not do it until I retire".
While thanking God for his mercies on the mysterious fire that gutted his official residence on October 6, 2008, he insisted that contrary to the findings of the police, the cause of the fire incident was not natural as he, his wife and the little girl that was with them witness it happened.
He affirmed that it was the handiwork of certain people who may have had an axe to grind with him over his judgment; saying 'the issue is the conscience of a man, of a person which is the best judge. I have been in the bench now for 33 years starting from my days at the lower bench. I have never done a case to go home and lose my sleep."
His words: "When they set my house on fire I was sleeping a lot because my conscience has told me that I did the right thing. It is true that my judgment may not go down with you but you have a right not to like my judgment. But I also have the right to decide a case according to the fact and the law. But what they did not concede to me is that I also have the right to look at the facts and the law as they are. I think we should try to be tolerant to concede to judges the right to do the work the way they know best".
Earlier in his homily, the General Overseer, New Covenant Church , Reverend Felix Omobude said that Nigeria as a nation is blessed and loved by God, but its leaders have abused their conscience and called on them to allow the inner voice of God within them to guide them in whatever they do.
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